


Spending the Night in a Haunted Mansion

by Otava



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendly Spectre, Haunted House, Library Bonding, Rumbelle Revelry, Rumbelle Revelry 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 01:52:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13330962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otava/pseuds/Otava
Summary: After two separate inconveniences, Belle and Gold find themselves spending the night in a Haunted Mansion.





	Spending the Night in a Haunted Mansion

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Rumbelle Revelry 2017.

It was a dark and stormy night, Mr. Gold observed as he drove back home from a tedious business meeting he had gone to earlier that day in the city. Driving in the rain was not something he particularly liked to do for good reason. His ankle throbbed from the memory of the traumatic accident he had endured almost 20 or so years ago almost to the day. No good at all came from driving in the rain, especially on a poorly lit and pot-hole covered road like the one he was driving on at the moment. Thankfully, he was almost nearing the outskirts of his town, Storybrooke which he felt familiarly safe in. He smiled, thinking about when he was finally home, he could relax safely in the comfort of his own bed and sleep. 

Peaceful thoughts were jarringly interrupted when a cat rudely scurried across the road. Gold immediately slammed on his brakes but due to the rain, he began to tread water with his tires and for a second he though he was going to die this time. Thankfully he swerved, unharmed.  His breath and heart-rate was increased as he sat at the side of the road in his car for minutes. Looking to the left and then towards the right after he had calmed down, he had noticed that he was near the old mansion on the outskirts of town and it had the lights on. Strange. They should not be on. Nobody had been there since 4 months ago when the previous renters of the home had left. It was known around the town that the mansion was supposed to be haunted. Gold himself, however, owned the property and had been in it a few times himself and decided that there was absolutely no indication of ghost’s living there. Whenever he let the house out to renters or people of the sort though, they would never stay long, which was a bit unusual but at least he got paid. Perhaps since the lights were on now, somebody had broken into the building, he thought for a moment. It would be unwise to confront them if that were the case, but then again, if it was just a simple electricity malfunction, he should get to the building sort it out immediately. Who knows how long it had been on, and how much money it was costing him. It was a fire-hazard too, for God’s sake.

He decided to investigate despite his better judgment.

“Hello?” he asked. It felt stupid to say what he said out loud, but he did anyway. What if there were burglars in there?

“Yes?” came back a female’s voice.

Gold was startled. He had not been expecting a response. Fortunately though, it was not a disembodied voice of a ghost or ghoul, but rather a voice he knew. It was the voice of the local librarian, Belle French. But what was she doing here, he questioned? Millions of wild explanations and reasons ran through his mind.

“It’s me, Mr. Gold,” he said, in case she didn't recognize his voice as he did hers.

“Mr Gold!” her voice came out in relief. Thereafter, her footsteps sounded her approaching. He looked at her and noticed that she was soaked from head to toe, wet from the rain. “I’m so relieved to see you!” she said quickly coming to his side. She looked at him, her eyes full of concern.

“What is it?” he breathed.

“I was out for a walk and it started to pour!” Belle started. “ I saw a light on in here and I came in for shelter. I’ve been here waiting to go home but the rain won’t let up. But Mr. Gold-”she cut herself off.

“What?”

“When I first came in, I saw a floating spectre near one of those odd-looking elongated portraits. Oh I do wish you would get rid of those- they are so morbid,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I know is sounds crazy of me to say so, but I saw it with my own two eyes. It was floating! And everything, I, felt...off.”

Gold ignored her. “You’re freezing, Miss. French,” he said, touching the woman’s arms. She had been shaking the whole time she’d been standing next to him. The poor thing was probably going into a hypothermic shock which probably could account for what she’d though she'd seen. “We need to get you warmed up. Here, please take my jacket.”

“I told you it was Belle, not Miss French, last time you came into my library,” she said with a little smile as he put the jacket on her.

"Of course. Belle it is then,” He corrected, grasping her hands in his and rubbing them between his. “Are you otherwise alright, Belle?”

“Yes, thank you. I'm still a little spooked and my head is spinning... but I know what I saw,” she said softly, closing her eyes against the warmth. She pulled him against her and he didn’t know what to say, so he just stood there. After a while, he let himself close his eyes as she breathed against him.

“Miss French. I do believe I should take you home now. My car is parked just outside-”

There was a large thud and then a click. Gold removed his hands from Belle and headed towards the door. It was locked, but he was sure that he hadn't locked it before...

“What's wrong?” Belle asked. She could sense the tension in his body. They both had goose flesh creeping up their bodies and Gold felt a tightness in the pit of his stomach. All he had to do now was remain calm now. For Belle. 

“There seems to be a bit of a problem with the lock,” Gold said, trying at the door. “I can't get it open.”

“Perhaps the door is swelled from the weather,” Belle suggested. She put her hands on his and together, they tried to open it. “Perhaps we could try a window?”

He shook his head. “It's an old house, they don't open all the way up to my knowledge, and the ones that do are too small to go through, even for us.”

“Then I'm going to look for a screwdriver or something. Do you know if there's anything like that around here? You own this property, right?”

“Indeed. And I don't make it a habit of leaving break-in tools around here. How did you even get in here in the first place? The door was certainly locked last time I checked.”

"I was cold and the door was unlocked and cracked open, so I walked in. I didn’t break in if that’s what you mean...” She spoke.

“You don't need to give me excuses, dearie. I’m not so cruel as to let a young lady such as yourself catch her death despite what people might say around here. But there is no way in hell that the door was just...open like that.”

“It was,” Belle insisted. “Then why, right now, did the door lock and close when you clearly left it open and unlocked?” she muttered.

“Miss French. If you believe this mansion to be haunted just as the people around here say then I must say-" Just at that moment, all of the lights in the house flared up to full brightness and then shut off. "I-"

“You were saying-" Belle pipped up.

“Faulty wiring?” Gold suggested, not even convincing himself fully as they stood in the blackness.

“Mr. Gold-" Belle said, illuminating her face and the surrounding area with her cell phone.

“You've had your cell with you all this time.”

“I have. But wouldn’t you believe it, but there’s no service here.” She held up her phone for his inspection.

“Of course there isn't service here,” he groaned.

“Do you have your cell on you?” Belle asked.

“No, it's in my car.”

“What are we supposed to do now then?”

“I think we have no other option than to wait the storm out and try again in the morning. Maybe call somebody to get us if the door is still stuck and your phone magically works then. Besides, what kind of ghost shows itself during the day?” Gold smirked making light of  the strange events.

Belle got flustered. “I'm not saying this place is haunted, just that I saw a floating light of some sort.”

“I know,” he said assuredly. “You have more sense than the average person in town, that’s what I like about you. I have no doubt you saw something if you say you did-”

“But it necessarily wasn't a ghost,” Belle agreed.”Maybe just a light. A lightning bug perhaps?”

“Perhaps,” he said, making her feel a bit more relieved than she was. “Now then: why don't we sort ourselves some sleeping arrangements for the night since it looks like we’ll have to stay here.”

“That sounds good,” she agreed. “But is it alright for me to sleep in one of the beds? I’m soaked and I don’t want to ruin it.”

“It should be fine, I’ll call in the cleaning service within the next few days, so make yourself at home,” he nodded. “I'm sorry but unfortunately, I don't think the gas is hooked up to this house at the moment, so there won't be any heat. We're going to have to make to with the blankets.”

“So no gas, but the electricity was on?” Belle asked almost laughing.

“It's necessary to have when I show the house to potential renters and buyers so that they can see the house well lit. The natural lighting of the house isn't the best; as I already mentioned the windows are quite small. So if you’d like, you can take the master bedroom upstairs and I can take the room down the hall.”

“Alright,” she smiled. They walked upstairs together. “Goodnight Mr. Gold,” she said as they were about to start parting ways.

“Goodnight,” he acknowledged back.

Belle situated herself in the room and looked around admiring its ornate beauty as she stripped her body of her soggy clothes and put on Golds heavy coat against her almost bare skin. She felt warmer already. Under the covers she went. The blankets were incredibly soft and warm, yet it was going to be a rough night as far as actually getting sleep, Belle could tell.

In the other room, Gold was less preoccupied with sleep than Belle was. All that was happening around him didn’t make any sense; the locked door, light flares, it even sounded as if there was a painful moaning sound coming from outside, but of course it had to have been from the wind from the storm. If the door was still locked by the morning they were going to have a real problem. Ghosts or not though, the mansion was still safer than the raging storm outside. Remaining in the maybe-haunted house was the best option at the moment. He shouldn't have even really been driving in the storm in the condition the weather was at the moment.

The door loudly creaked open near him, but there was nobody there. “Belle,” he asked. No answer. “Belle,” he said again, nearing the door frame to look down the hall. He thought he saw something in the corner of his eye as he ventured out further into the hall. Deciding that it was Belle probably checking in on him, he turned back to his room, not wanting to go after her. 

The door, which he had left wide open upon his exiting, flew shut as soon as he turned back towards it.

Okay. He was going to have to admit to himself that this place was haunted weather he wanted to believe it or not; doors didn't do that. Also now the handle of the door wouldn't budge. He pulled and twisted at it with all his strength. Nothing happened. After a good 20 seconds, he rammed his shoulder against it. He had his car keys and personal belongings in that room and had to get back into it. 

As suddenly as it as closed, it had flown open again. Gold shuffled into the room and immediately inspected all the walls for a sign of someone or something with no luck. Quickly, he grabbed his keys and wallet from the dresser then confusedly sat down on the edge of the bed, not knowing what to do. Perhaps this was all in his head-

Minutes later, Belle was awoken by a large crash in the room next to hers: she rushed to action to find the room Gold was in was surrounded with a slew of floating household objects including a stray trumpet for some reason.

“Stay back, Belle,” Gold yelled.

Belle rushed forwards anyway and immediately the objects clattered to the floor.

“Please tell me you saw that?”Gold said smally

“Yes I did. No doubt about it now. This place is haunted.”

A crack of thunder sounded from outside.

“What are we going to do?”

“Well… there’s nothing we can do unless your an exorcist of some sort.”

“Very funny," Gold said. "We can stay together, for protection of course, and then as soon as the storm lets up-”

“-We’re leaving,” Belle finished.

“My thoughts exactly,” Gold affirmed.

Together, and unwilling to sleep or separate, the two of them gathered in another empty room, the library, where they lit a fire in the fireplace and sat in the brightness for the remainder of their time there. They were with one another reading and chatting for hours to keep each other distracted and for the company. At one point in the night, the piano in the room started playing and at another point, they thought they both saw something...unusual... in the corner of their eyes, but besides that the night was tolerable and nothing else strange happened.

Dawn came and they had to actually had to break the door down to get out but were more than willing to do so, happy to be out in the open air again. Driving away after had been bliss.

Gold pulled up to Belle’s place to drop her off. “I’ll see you later,” Belle said as she stepped out if his car.

“Later?”

“I do have your coat.”Belle motioned down to his warm coat warped around her body.

“It’s fine-” he started, not knowing if he could ever bring himself to wear it again if she returned it.

“No. I want to give it back. Maybe we could grab a bite to eat too. My treat for coming to my rescue last night. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there.”

“I think you're forgetting about the part where I got trapped too. But perhaps it was fate I was there, however.”

“Fate. I like that,” she said, smiling. “Anyway, I really need to take a shower and then I'm going to run a few errands I should have done yesterday but after that, how about we meet up again at, say, 7:30 tonight and you can tell me how the book I was reading ends. I normally would have liked to finish it myself but there’s no way I was going to bring it with me or go back in there to get it after what happened last night and you said it was one of your favorites.”

Gold’s Adam's apple bobbed. “I’d like that. Very much.”

“I would too. See you at 7:30 then!"


End file.
